


Starstruck!

by NorixWolfe



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: AU, F/F, Panic Attacks, Sci-Fi, space
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:20:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28637646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NorixWolfe/pseuds/NorixWolfe
Summary: “Cloaking, check. Engines, check. Stabilizers, check.” Lena muttered to herself. She always found it easier to remember things by saying them out loud. She wrapped her fingers around the starship’s controls and eased it forward slowly, until the planet came into view.It was breathtaking. The planet was a deep shade of blue and had swaths of massive white clouds circling around it like a big, fluffy blanket. With the sun behind her, the surface of the planet glistened, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d visited an ocean planet like this.It was the perfect place to spring her trap.--------A Sci-fi au focused on Lena and Webby, as well as their quickly growing relationship.
Relationships: Lena (Disney: DuckTales)/Webby Vanderquack
Comments: 10
Kudos: 25





	1. Distress

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a sci-fi/space AU. In this story Lena is 19, Webby is 18, and the three brothers are 17.  
> The story is heavily inspired by the show's story, but it's not going to be a complete retelling. I've got some interesting stuff planned~

Lena shot another glance to the radar in her starship, confirming that another ship had in fact just warped into the otherwise uninhabited system. At least her only lead hadn’t been a bust this time. She flipped a few switches on the dashboard in front of her, and her ship hummed to life.  
  
“Cloaking, check. Engines, check. Stabilizers, check.” She muttered to herself. She always found it easier to remember things by saying them out loud. After waiting for everything to fully power on, she wrapped her fingers around the starship’s controls and eased it forward slowly. The ship followed her command, thrusters pushing it forward at a steady speed as little bits of space debris harmlessly bounced off the front view panel. As the ship picked up more speed, the speck off in the distance began to grow larger and larger until a full planet came into view. 

The view was breathtaking. The rapidly approaching planet was a deep blue color, swaths of massive white clouds circling around it like a big, fluffy blanket. With the sun behind her, the surface of the planet glistened, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d visited an ocean planet like this. Pulling up her planetary database, she quickly reviewed the information and found a suitable landing spot. One of the larger islands in the Northern Hemisphere that seemed stable enough to prevent her starship from being claimed by the depths of the sea.

It was the perfect place to spring her trap.

* * *

Webby held her breath as her starship rumbled. She wasn’t afraid of the personal warp drive, it was a perfectly safe system that had worked trillions of times for millions of other people. It certainly wasn’t going to implode under the pressure of bending space to move faster than the speed of light, leaving her broken ship stranded in an unknown and likely untrackable void in space with no chance of anyone finding her until she ran out of water and oxygen and...

Huey certainly _was_ rubbing off on her.

Suddenly, the view in the front panel view on her starship snapped into place as her ship exited warp. The view into space remained stationary now, and apart from the beating of her heart, the ship was completely silent. Her eyes quickly began scanning the sensors and dials in front of her, and after confirming that none of the delicate pieces of machinery had imploded during the warp she finally let out a breath. It wasn’t like her to be this concerned, I mean sure this was the first time she’d ever used a personal warp drive in a small starship alone instead of the warp gates, **and** this was an uninhabited system with only a few planets and no way to communicate with anyone other than the ship’s slow long-range communication. But she had run through the simulations countless times! She was Webby, she could do anything!

One of the sensors on the dashboard in front of her made a quiet _‘beep’_ , interrupting her train of thought. Any sign of her previous worry had quickly disappeared as a smile grew on her face. She knew exactly what the beep was, and without hesitation began slowly steering her ship towards it.

It didn’t take long for the planet to come into view, it’s vast blue oceans certainly were the most remarkable feature, just as the pilots at the starship hangar had told her. She waited until the planet took up nearly the entire front view panel before she slowed the ship to a stop and unstrapped herself from her seat. Her mouth hung open and her eyes sparkled in awe as she stepped up to the view panel, nearly pressing her face against it. Sure, she had seen plenty of beautiful planets during her adventures with her uncle and brothers, but this was different. This time she wasn’t here to find some treasure, fight some creature, or learn about some ancient civilization. No, this time she wouldn’t even need to land on the planet (Not that she was allowed to anyway). She just wanted to admire it, watch as the large clouds lazily circled around the planet, maybe even make a few quick passes just because. This was her journey, and she was perfectly content with taking things slowly just this once.

Unfortunately for her, a loud electronic PING followed by static had other things to say about that.

“ _L... Sa.... .....t .. a Dead.. Wh…...l .. .... .. ..rvival.. .elp!_.” Garbled words came from the ship’s short-range communications. 

That sounded alarmingly like a distress signal. Webby took one last look at the beautiful planet in front of her before hopping back into her seat and fiddling with the communicator. She waited a few seconds for a response from a nearby station, not that there were any that would be able to pick up a short-range distress signal like this, before pressing a button and speaking her own response. “This is MD414055. Roger your mayday, please repeat, over.”

The ship fell into silence once more. A minute passed, and as she was about to call out to the distress signal again when another loud _ping_ followed by static sounded, “ _I.. str...ed .... .y crew .. ..is .ea....ul planet ... n. water!_ ” This time, her ship picked up the location of the distress signal. It was on the planet’s surface.

Webby placed her hand on the short range communications button again, but before she could press it another PING and more static, “ _Th.. .. urg..t! I.. ......g out .. time ...., ..ease co.. help me!_ ”

It was still hard to make out what the distress call was saying but those last two words were loud and clear, they were in danger and Webby had to help them. Looking at the long-range communicator she hesitated, any distress signal she sent out would take too much time to make it to a station, and any help would be too late by the time it arrived. She knew she shouldn’t respond to the signal herself, but she was prepared for things like this. After all those years of training, surely she could handle a small distress signal, and if she did well enough she might even get praised as a hero!

She nodded to herself and made up her mind. She took a deep breath and pressed the short-range communications button, “This is MD414055. Coming in for landing and extraction. I am approaching your distress signal, over.” Strapping herself back into the seat, she flipped a few switches on the dashboard and readied herself for planetary landing. “Sorry Granny,” she whispered as her ship sped closer to the planet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Eden for grammar checking, beta reading, as well as suggesting the fic name (Seriously thank you), and Jaz Tracy for beta reading. Shoutout to the rad weblena discord for inspiring me to write in the first place.


	2. A New Friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I won't be posting chapters on a daily basis, but I really wanted to get a full length chapter out before starting to push these weekly.  
> I hope you enjoy!

“This is MD414055. Coming in for landing and extraction. I am approaching your distress signal, over.”

The voice was a tad muffled coming from the old short-range communicator lying in the sand, but Lena understood it well enough. MD meant it was definitely a McDuck starship, but the voice she heard didn’t sound anything like what she’s been told of that old man’s Nephews. It didn’t sound like a large ship though, so she’d just roll with it. Worst case scenario, she could easily spin it as some silly mistake.

While she waited, she thought about other, way  _ cooler  _ things she could be doing. Antagonizing the local crimelife, stealing fuel from the colony stations, floating alone in the endless void of space. She really would rather be doing pretty much  _ anything  _ but conning a couple of kids right about now.

The low rumble of an engine shook her from her thoughts, and Lena looked up to see a ship approaching the planet. As it got closer, she realized with a grimace that the ship wasn’t slowing down in the slightest.

The ship was coming in fast, way faster than any normal ship would be able to land, and Lena sure as hell wasn’t about to stick around to watch it crash. She quickly turned and ran to get out of the way, but she didn’t make it very far before the sounds of the incoming engines stopped, and immediately flared up again. Quickly turning back around, she saw the incoming ship was now facing completely backwards, thrusters blasting directly into the planet.

With this, the ship slowed enough for it to come to a nearly complete stop before it snapped forwards to be parallel with the surface of the planet, scorching quite a bit of the sand below it in the process.

“Huh,” Lena mumbled to herself. That was sure as hell no autopilot landing, no way something that risky would  _ ever _ work, she would know.

She slowly walked back over to her short-range communicator, sitting herself down on the sand next to it as the usual depressurization hiss came from the door of the newly landed ship. A quick glance confirmed that it was a McDuck Alliance starship, though not one of the usual fighter vessels.

The door to the ship suddenly burst open, “I’m here to rescue you and your crew! Where’s the danger!?”

Of all the things Lena was expecting, this certainly wasn’t one of them. Standing in the doorway- and after a quick frontflip- standing in front of the ship, was a girl that looked no older than herself. She wore a pair of dark purple pants, a blue jacket, a bright pink shirt, as well as a matching pink bow keeping her long hair in a ponytail, and.. Oh no, she was  _ cute _ . Of all the things she could have been, why did she have to be  _ cute? _

The girl’s eyes locked on to Lena’s, but before she could say anything else Lena quickly replied, “What? No, that was just me. I was just, you know,” she paused, twirling her hand a few times, “Having fun.”

“You were sending out distress signals for fun?”

Lena shrugged as she turned to fiddle with the communicator box, “Didn’t expect anyone to be in range of the signal.”

At this point the other girl had come to terms with there not being any danger, and begun looking around. There was this sparkle in her eyes that gave away how excited she was about being on the planet, a big smile stretched across her face.

Lena realized she was staring, probably a bit too intensely at this new, obviously wonderstruck girl. “Soooo, is that your ship?” Lena asked, pulling her gaze away.

“Yeah! Well, kinda,” The girl moves one of her hands up and rubs her other arm, “My Uncle loaned it to me so, he kinda owns it I guess.”

“Wow, must be a nice uncle to loan you a McDuck alliance ship. Those things don’t come by cheap,”

“Oh no, he didn’t let me borrow it, I took out a loan from him to get it so he technically owns the starship until I pay it off!” the excitement in her voice didn’t waver, even when explaining the financial circumstances of a starship.

“Oh, huh.”

“Yeah, Uncle Scrooge wouldn’t be caught dead giving away something as expensive as a starship,” she shrugged.

_ Uncle _ Scrooge? Well damn, looks like her luck really is turning around. “Well those were some pretty tricky moves you pulled off just a moment ago, you seem like you know your stuff. Where’d you learn to fly like that?”

“Oh, haha, my granny taught me. Oh! Please don’t tell her I did that, she’d be furious if she found out!”

Lena let out a laugh, “Tell her? I don’t even know your name, besides, she sounds like a figure of authority- and I make it a point to  _ ignore _ said authority.”

“I’m Webby!” the girl replied, completely disregarding the latter half of what Lena said.

“Lena, and ‘Pink’ suits you better.”

Webby’s eyes grew wide, and she began excitedly shaking her fists, “Ooh! A nickname! Does that mean we’re friends? Friends give each other nicknames, oh this is so  _ exciting _ !”

Lena raised an eyebrow and smiled, “Moving a bit fast there, eh Pink?” She paused for a moment, “Actually, you know what? I was about to head to this killer party a few systems out, wanna come with?”

Webby’s smile faded and she looked down, “I… I should really tell Granny that I’d be hopping systems, she’ll be worried about me.”

Lena rolled her eyes, “Oh _come_ on, you’re old enough to make your own decisions! Besides, this is a planet wide party we’re talking about, you can’t just _‘reschedule’_ these.”

Webby let out a groan, she really seemed to be internally debating whether or not to go. All she needed was a little push.

“It’ll be  _ dangerous _ ...” Lena encouraged. Judging from the landing earlier Webby came off as a thrill seeker, she just hoped her intuition was correct.

“Oh.. I don’t know- uhm.. well.. oh, who am I kidding! Okay! Let’s do this! It’s party time!” Webby exclaimed, hopping up and down a few times while pumping her fists in the air.

“Alright, Pink, I’ll send you the coords from my ship. Try to keep up.” Lena said with a wink.

* * *

Webby could not believe she was doing this. Not only did she directly disobey Granny by landing on the planet, but she was following some cool, leather-jacket wearing, pink-striped hair, ripped jeans badass she’d just met on said planet to an interplanetary party! Okay, maybe she wasn’t actually wearing a leather jacket and ripped jeans but she would probably look  _ great  _ in them. She  _ did _ look cool in that black and grey shirt after all.

“Alright, I’m sending the coords over now, you got ‘em Pink?” Lena’s voice came through the comms, followed by a  _ blip  _ and a set of coordinates.

“Yup! Punching them into the warp drive now.” She entered the coordinates, it was only a few systems out just as Lena said. “You still haven’t told me what the planet is.”

“You’ll see when we get there.” Lena replied through the communicator. Webby figured she’d leave it at that, she’d rather be surprised anyway.

Her radar let out a small  _ beep _ , notifying her of a new ship nearby. Sure enough, there was a sleek, black starship rising off the planet just ahead of her. Webby pulled her own ship off of the planet’s surface, watching as Lena flew off at an incredible speed. She flipped a switch to charge the warp drive, and started moving away from the planet.

“Alright Pink, see you on the other side.” Sure enough, a moment later Lena’s ship disappeared from the radar.

A small blue light followed by a notification that the warp drive was charged signalled that Webby was ready to go. This time though, she didn’t hesitate, nor did she hold her breath when pressing the button. This time, she wasn’t traveling solo, and that really helped calm her nerves.

The front view panel of the starship cut out, and the rattling of metal and machinery picked back up for the warp. Okay, maybe she was still a tad uncomfortable relying on the old personal warp drive.

When the ship finally exited warp, Webby found herself in a system she’d certainly never been in before, nor even heard of. A quick check of the coordinates confirmed this was the right place, though she couldn’t imagine why anyone would hold a party  _ here _ .

The system had a rather dim star, compared to most other habitable systems she’d been in. Her starship’s dashboard confirmed that there were at least three planets, and a handful of other large masses, probably at least a few moons, though it was hard to tell. The most striking thing about the system, however, was the overwhelming amount of space debris. Large metal panels, starship scraps, oddly colored garbage, the view here was the stark opposite of the beautiful system she’d just come from.

“You’ll have to rely on manual controls from here on out, the autopilot struggles with this much debris,” Lena’s voice came from over the comms. It sounded more distorted than before, probably all this space junk causing issues with the signal. “And we’ll have to fly silent until we land, no comms. Stay slow and quiet.”

Well that certainly wasn’t ominous. Perhaps it was a surprise party? Though why anyone would want a surprise party here was beyond her... maybe that was the surprise? 

“Copy that,” Webby replied and smiled to herself. There was something so exciting about all of this, it was like no adventure she’d been on before. It was  _ her  _ adventure, and she couldn't wait to brag about it to her brothers.

Pushing her ship forward, and avoiding more than a few large clumps of scrap metal, slowly the target planet comes into view. It was a rather unpleasant looking planet, a sickly green gas was engulfing the entire thing, and she could see what looked like mountains of metal dotted around the surface. It looked like one of the scrap planets she’d been to during one of her family adventures, though even that seemed more pleasant than this. Whatever that green gas was, it certainly didn’t look good for the lungs.

Slowing her own ship down, she approached the surface of the planet for landing. With no reason to make a showy entrance this time, and having been told to keep things quiet, Webby went for a much more traditional landing, adjusting the ship to touch down in a cleared patch of rocky land. Lena’s sleek, black ship was already on the planet- and Webby got a much better look at it- as she felt the soft bump of her landing gear making contact with the surface.

Lena’s ship was certainly unique, and from what Webby’s seen, it fit her pretty well. The surface was sleek with a matte black finish, there were no markings save for the obvious front view panel and door. It looked more like a stealth fighter than a private civilian starship. It was cool, like Lena.

Unstrapping herself from the seat, Webby took another look through the viewport at the piles of scrap metal around the ships. She slid on her rebreather, the face mask shielding her eyes and mouth from the harsh atmosphere she’s about to step right into. She hopped past the pilot seat and pulled a lever on the side of the ship, waiting as the pressure equalized so that she could hop out of the open door.

Lena was already standing just outside with a rebreather of her own. She was casually leaning up against a rather large piece of scrap metal, giving off those same casual, cool vibes as before. 

“So! Where is this party? Why is it in a trash nebula? Why were we sneaking around in space? Is this a surprise party? Are-” Webby started rambling, Lena calmly put up a hand, stopping her mid-sentence.

“It’s just a short walk that way,” she points behind her, “You’ll see when we get there.”

Webby took a deep breath, nearly throwing herself into a coughing fit. Even though the air was filtered to be non-toxic, it didn’t make it smell (or taste) any better. Perhaps she’d bring that up with Gyro after she got back.

Taking this as acknowledgement, Lena pushed herself off the scrap and started walking off. Webby composed herself and skipped over to walk beside her. 

“So, where’d you get that starship? It’s super cool and stylish, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen one like it.” she questioned.

“My aunt gave it to me,” Lena quickly replied, not turning to face Webby.

“Isn’t family great?”

“Yeah right, she only gave it to me so I’d get out of her hair. Family is more trouble than it’s worth.”

Webby frowned, that... sounded a lot like Scrooge before his adventures with Huey, Dewey, Louie, and herself. Sounds like all she needed was a friendly push, 

“But, family’s the best! They help you when you’re in need, cheer you up when you’re sad, buy you pizza on Friday nights.”

Lena let out a sharp laugh, “Maybe your family’s like that Pink, not everyone’s as fortunate as you. Family is just there to use you, a convenient excuse to tell you what to do and taking away your freedom to make your own decisions. Nothing but trouble,” Lena winced and pressed her hand against her head. “Great, now I’ve got a headache.” 

Webby was silent for the rest of the walk. She really wanted to convince Lena that family really could be great, and maybe she just got dealt a bad hand. But Webby had more than enough family to share! She would definitely introduce them to Lena, that would show her how wonderful family could be.

When the massive metal wall came into view, Lena began crouching behind scrap, slowly sneaking her way forward. Webby followed suit, keeping silent until they reached an unimpressive section of the wall. It towered up at least a dozen feet, and there was no door anywhere in sight. Lena pulled out a small metal device, and with the click of a button a bright blue light emitted from the tip. She pressed it against the wall and the metal began to glow red upon contact, cutting a hole right through it.

“Wait, aren’t you invited?” Webby asks, squinting as sparks flew past her face.

“It’s not an adventure if you’re invited,” Lena said as she finished cutting a hole big enough for them to crawl through. She turned off the cutter and slipped it back into her pocket, “Come on, don’t tell me you’ve never broken into somewhere?”

Webby stopped to think about it, she had  _ broken  _ into plenty of places during her family adventures, but that was different, right? 

“I mean, yeah but that was always for the sake of discovery, finding treasure and preserving its history!” Lena turned around and put one of her hands on her hip, Webby could tell she was raising an eyebrow and giving her a  _ Really? _ look, even behind the rebreather. “I mean, okay maybe it wasn’t always for the history. And there were a few times that we probably should have just gotten written permission, and…” She trailed off, Scrooge  _ had  _ encouraged them to break-and-enter more times that she could count for the sake of treasure hunting. She supposed this one time wasn’t that much different, “Alright, alright. Let’s go! Adventure and partying awaits!”

Lena nodded and ducked down, quickly crawling through the hole she’d cut. Webby followed closely behind, making sure not to bump her head on the metal wall as she did so.

The other side of the wall somehow had even more scrap and garbage scattered about, though the green haze was no longer present. Lena popped off her rebreather and collapsed it into a more manageable, pocket-friendly size. “We should be fine to breathe in here,” she said, continuing forward.

Webby removed her own rebreather, it folded into a similarly small package and she slipped it into the pocket of her jacket. “Is it fine we didn’t bring a present to the party? Or punch? This isn’t a potluck- is it?”

“Easy, Pink, we’ll be fine. It’s just a casual party, kay?”

As they walked, Webby started to hear the sound of voices, and quite a lot of them at that. Whatever this party was for, there were a  _ lot  _ of guests.

With a clearing coming into view, Webby finally saw some of the other party goers, everyone had various costumes and outfits huddled in groups of three. “Wow! I didn’t know this was going to be a costume party!” She exclaimed as the two of them walked into view.

Lena smiled, looking back to her, “Oh? This isn't a costume party.”

Slowing to a stop, Webby looked around again and started recognizing more and more of the faces. She knew them from the countless times they’d tried to steal from her Uncle, from her entire family, and from her. She understood why she’d never heard of this system before, she was standing right in the middle of one of the largest crime groups in the galaxy’s secret base. And if they were here, that meant-

“My Boys!” A shrill voice called out from above. All conversations around her immediately stopped, and were replaced with cheers and fist pumps as the party-goers all turned to face the source of the voice.

Standing at the top of a neatly constructed pile of old crushed ship scraps with a poorly decorated, mostly intact ship sitting on top, was a woman Webby had hoped to never see again. She was an older woman with shoulder-length grey hair and was decorated with various pieces of cheap looking jewelry. Everything about her screamed tacky, but that didn’t stop her from being one of the most wanted criminals in the Galaxy. She was Ma Beagle, and Webby was standing in her front yard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look, I know this follows S1's story VERY closely, but it was just such a good way to introduce these characters to each other I couldn't resist!  
> Things will be diverging after this, so look forward to some good, fun space shenanigans.  
> Let me know if you have any feedback about my writing style, or if you just enjoyed it! I'm always open to improving myself.  
> Huge thanks again to Eden for beta reading and editing this chapter, it helps a ton~


	3. Uninvited Guests

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: One of the characters has a panic attack

Webby watched as Ma Beagle raised her hands in the air, holding some sort of long metal object as she spoke, “It warms my heart to see you all here together as a family, to celebrate the most important day in the galaxy- your Ma’s birthday!”

This was followed up by another, even louder cheer from the crowd. Webby realized the immense amount of danger the two of them were in, this wasn’t simply being outnumbered, this was outnumbered on their own planet. Webby grabbed onto Lena’s shirt, pulling her close enough to whisper. “This is Ma Beagle's  _ birthday party?! _ ” her voice was frantic as she spoke through the cheers, trying her best to keep a low tone.

Lena looked down at her and raised an eyebrow, “Well, yeah. It’s a Beagle Party..?”

“You didn’t mention that,” Webby hissed back, looking around in a panic, “I really can’t be here, we need to leave  _ now, _ ”

Webby was strong, stronger than most she’d come across. She’d also gone up against the Beagle Boys head to head many times throughout the years, but even in the worst of those situations she’d never been surrounded by hundreds of them at the same time. If she got caught now, Ma Beagle would make sure she never got to see her family again.

Without giving Lena a chance to react, Webby grabbed onto her hand and ran. She expertly weaved between the distracted Beagle Boys, until she ran directly into one nearly twice her size. He turned around to see the girls stumbling backwards, and stared at the two of them with a frown.

“What do you two think you’re doing running amok during Ma’s special day?” He demanded, squinting as he looked them over. “Now, hold on,” He pointed at Webby. “Don’t I know you from somewhere?”

“I uh, I mean..” Webby struggled to form words, her eyes darting around, looking for some kind of escape route. She knew she could easily take down the Beagle Boy before her, but that would cause too much of a commotion. If she ran, she might be able to outrun this one, but he would certainly call out to the others. She needed a plan, she had to assess the possible outcomes and determine the best route, but she had no time. Her head spun 

Lena quickly stepped in, “I apologize, brother of ours! We’re the Beagle Birds! Ma’s adopted daughters from across the galactic void! My  _ dear _ sister here doesn’t do terribly well in crowds- we were simply stepping out momentarily to get some fresh air!” She spoke in an accent, and this seemed to catch the Beagle Boy off guard. He furrowed his eyebrows in thought.

Webby nearly slapped herself on the head. She was overthinking the whole situation, these weren’t mastermind criminals she was dealing with. These were the Beagle Boys, and the Beagle Boys could be tricked.

“Hold on,” He said, holding up a hand, “The air out there ain’t fresh at all.”

It was Webby’s turn to step in. “Oh brother dear, this party is just  _ simply _ divine. And as my dear sister Brittania here explained, I wish to return to our ship and retrieve the  _ wonderful _ present of fresh air from the nearby tropical paradise planet of Ithaquack so that we may all partake in the relaxation of a  _ lifetime _ . We will be certain to relay your gracious hospitality in letting us give this present to her, we would hate to disappoint our dearest Mama Beagle with a late present on the most  _ important _ day of the year,”

The Beagle Boy eyed both of them suspiciously for a moment before smiling, “I sure don’t wanna disappoint Ma, enjoy the fresh air!”

With a bow from both of them, Webby grabbed onto Lena’s hand and carefully zipped past the Beagle Boy just as the crowd started singing Happy Birthday- if you could call it singing. She weaved between the distracted group, Lena’s hand still held tightly in her own as the unharmonized chorus finished the first verse.

“Ma!” A voice cried out during the pause, throwing off the song completely.

“Oh you had  _ better _ have a good reason for interrupting my birthday song,” Ma’s shrill voice called back. Webby and Lena quickly ducked behind a larger piece of scrap as the crowd went silent.

“Ma! I followed a McDuck ship onto the planet! They’re here!”

Webby’s eyes grew wide as the crowd behind them broke out into many different conversations. She frantically looked to Lena, who was peering out behind the scrap. “How’d they find the ships?”

“We didn’t exactly hide them,” Lena replied in a whisper, still looking out at the Beagle Boys.

“You took the ship and captured the pilot, right?” Ma called out expectantly.

The other voice hesitated, “I came right here to tell ya, Ma!”

“How did someone so brilliant end up raising these morons?” Ma sighed, her voice only barely audible. “Alright boys! I have a very special birthday request for you. Capture the McDuck spies and steal their ship!  _ That’d _ be the best gift a mother could get.”

If this wasn’t a sign to get out of here as soon as possible, she didn’t know what was. Lena didn’t seem to want to stick around any longer either, and they quickly ran back to where they’d entered, slipping on their rebreathers.

The two of them crawled back out through the hole Lena cut in the wall, “This was a mistake.” Webby muttered, her voice slowly raising “I knew I wasn’t ready for this. A secret party planet with a cool, mysterious girl I just met? What was I expecting?”

“Whoa, whoa, hold on there, Pink.” Lena replied, “Let’s just get back to the ships and get off this ball of junk. We-”

Webby didn’t look at Lena, and started pacing in circles. “I just... I thought I was ready to go out on my own this time! Of  _ course _ I would ruin it. My chance to explore, to show that I can handle myself. To show I don’t need anyone to fix all my mistakes. I-!” 

She was Webby! She was always ready for the challenge, ready to jump headfirst into danger, ready to be launched from one adventure to the next. She had spent years training, years going on adventures, years relying on others to fix every little thing she did wrong. From the moment she left Duckburg’s system she made mistake after mistake, everything she did was digging her into a deeper hole, it only took her a few hours to end up stranded on a planet-  _ unprepared- _ with some of the most dangerous criminals in the galaxy. 

Her rebreather beeped once. The smell of the noxious atmosphere was causing her head to spin, she couldn’t breathe. She was going to suffocate here. She should have listened, she wasn’t ready for this. Another beep pierced her thoughts, she couldn’t breathe. This was her fault, she tried to reach for her rebreather, she couldn’t feel her hands.

She couldn’t breathe.

She was going to  _ die _ .

“-nk, Pink! Webby!” Suddenly, Lena’s voice broke her train of thought. She opened her eyes, the green sky above. Lena was looking down at her, holding her hand. “Match my breathing. Steady, deep breaths. In,” Lena took a deep breath in through her rebreather. Webby inhaled sharply, the rebreather beeping once again. Lena softly squeezed her hand, “Slowly, Pink. Breathe out.”

She exhaled. It was painful, but Lena continued. 

Webby didn’t know how long it took, but eventually her breathing was steady again. She sat up against a discarded jump drive, something dull pressed uncomfortably into her back but she didn’t care. Most importantly, her rebreather was functioning as it should be, there was never an issue with it in the first place. 

“You with me, Pink?” Lena asked, crouching down next to her.

Webby nodded, “Yeah, thanks.”

Lena stood up, holding a hand out to her. Webby took it and pulled herself up, her legs still a little shaky. Without a word, Lena led her back to where their ships were waiting.

After walking for a few minutes, Webby heard the sound of talking in the direction they were heading. Turning a corner around a smaller pile of scrap confirmed her fears. There were six Beagle Boys already at her ship, three were investigating it while the others were standing guard.

“There are none around my ship,” Lena pointed out. She looked over and sure enough, Lena’s ship was unguarded just beyond her own. “Looks like they’re only interested in your ship for now. I’m not sure we can take all six of them, and I’m gonna be honest I don’t wanna take our chances in lying our way through it when they’re on high alert. Not to that many of them.”

Webby hated to admit it, but she was in no state to do any kind of show of deception at the moment, much less take on 6 Beagle Boys directly. “We need to get off the planet, if we can get to Duckburg we’ll be safe. Any Beagle Boys dumb enough to warp into that system will find themselves quickly outnumbered.”

“We’ll have to take the loss, leave your ship behind. If we use my ship we-”

“No!” Webby cut her off, perhaps a little louder than she intended. She looked to the Beagle Boys by her ship, all six were looking around for the source of the noise. Luckily for her, it didn’t seem like they caught where it came from, and they shrug it off before returning to what they were occupying themselves with before.

“No, we can’t leave it behind. My granny is going to  _ kill _ me if she finds out I lost my ship to the Beagle Boys.” Webby whispered, “She’d never let me fly again!”

“Pink. We’re kinda out of options here.” Lena let out a sigh, “Neither of us should throw our lives away here. Look, if we get to my ship I can take us out of here easy.”

Webby couldn’t bring herself to abandon her ship, this might as well be her last adventure if she lets that ship stay with the Beagle Boys.

Lena held out her hand for Webby, “Don’t you trust me?”

Those words were enough to break any remaining hesitation from Webby. She placed her own hand on Lena’s and nodded silently.

Lena pulled her forward, slipping behind another pile of scrap. She peeked over to check on the Beagle Boys, waited for most of them to face away from the two of them, and continued slipping between piles of scrap. After a few close calls, the two made it safely around the Beagle Boy’s attention and to Lena’s ship.

Lena dropped to a low crouch and quietly walked out into the clearing, carefully avoiding the smaller pieces of metal and various other objects scattered around. Webby followed closely behind, matching Lena’s footsteps precisely. The two of them reached the ship and Lena pressed her hand up to the side, sliding the door open. 

“Hey! What’re you two doin?” a deep, gruff voice calls out. 

“Get in, go!” Lena shouted, Webby didn’t need to be told twice. She hopped up into the ship, and turned around to see one of the Beagle Boys holding out a Discharge Blaster. A direct hit from one of those could easily bring you down for the count. She’d been hit by one before, and had the scar on her back to prove it.

She heard the electric discharge and before she knew it Lena was standing between her and the firing Beagle Boy. Electricity burst through the air briefly and struck Lena directly on the shoulder, the door to the ship closed immediately after. She could hear a few shots collide with the exterior of the ship as Lena pushed past Webby to get to the pilot’s chair. There was a burn mark that clearly went through her striped shirt, yet she didn’t seem to care.

“Are you alright? That burn looks pretty nasty.” Webby asked frantically, the hum of the starship’s engines reaching her ears.

“I just need to focus.” Lena stated flatly, pulling the ship up into the sky

Lena pressed a button on the dashboard in front of her. A blue indicator light turned on and a small bar began to fill with color. She entered the coordinates for Duckburg, Webby recognized them immediately. The ship suddenly lurched forward from an impact, the inside flooding with the deep red color of an alarm. “Damnit, we’ve been hit!” Lena shouted, smashing her hand into the radar next to her with a loud metal  _ thud _ . “All this shit in space is messing with the radar, I can’t see where they’re coming from.”

Lena yanked the controls to the side and the ship made a sharp turn, slamming into more than a few large clusters of floating scrap. Another impact throws Webby against the other side of the ship, she barely manages to avoid smashing her head against the metal. She looked out the front view panel of the ship and saw one of the Beagle Boy’s signature scrappers approaching rapidly, it had large weapons haphazardly welded to the sides.

Lena jerked the controls the other way and tried to move out of the direct line of fire, though it did little good as another impact rattled the ship. Additional warnings lit up on the dashboard, the warp drive wasn’t even halfway charged at this point.

Lena pressed a few buttons and the radar blinked out, along with half of the control panel. “I can’t shake them!”

“I can do it.” Webby said, confident in her own words. Lena glanced back at her and she repeated herself, “I can do it, I can get us out of their range long enough to warp.”

Lena hesitated, but after looking at Webby’s determined expression she unstrapped herself from the seat, quickly pulling Webby forward to take her spot. “Alright Pink, let’s see what you’ve got.”

Webby nodded, looking at the controls in front of her. It nearly matched one of the ships she’d studied before, a Shadow’s stealth fighter. Though she’d never been able to pilot a functional one before, she knew enough for her to grasp all that she needed.

“Hold onto something.” Webby quickly dropped the ship down, back towards the planet. She maneuvered past a cluster of scrap larger than their own ship, quickly spinning around to double back. They almost collided with the Scrapper as it maneuvered around the same cluster, Webby expertly dodging it completely.

Another two scrappers approached them from either side, and Webby quickly pulled the ship to the side. Energy fired from both of the ships, but with another sharp turn, Webby managed to dodge another hit. This continued for longer than she would have liked, more close calls and a few unfortunate hits were really pressing her luck here. She wasn’t actually sure how much this ship could take, but it was holding up for now and that’s all she needed.

A soft beep and a fully lit charge display indicated that the warp drive was ready to go, Lena nearly dove over Webby to press the warp button. The scrap around them disappeared as the front view panel cut out, the sound of their heavy breathing being the only sounds remaining. 

It took a minute to exit warp, both of them remained completely silent during this time, content to just catch their breath. Once they did exit warp, however, the short range communicator on the ship came to life with an incoming signal. Webby pressed the button and the familiar voice of the Duckburg Station’s operator came through.

“Unidentified starship warping into the system, providing access identification immediately. Noncompliance will be met with force. I repeat, unidentified ship warping into the system-”

Webby pressed the button again, interrupting them, “It’s me, Webby. I have my identifier... Can I get clearance to land?”

“Ah, Webby! Glad to hear from you, just send your identifier through and you’ll be cleared for landing.” They replied through the communicator, in a much more upbeat tone.

Webby pulled out a small card, thank goodness she kept this on her instead of in her ship like some did. She glanced over the dashboard in front of her, looking for where she could send the data through.

“Right here Pink,” Lena said, drawing her attention. Sure enough, there was a slot to read the card immediately to her right. Webby nodded and slid the card into the reader, and after a moment a light lit green and the voice returned.

“Alright, you’re clear to land.”

Webby slid the card back into her pocket, letting out a sigh as she drove the starship towards Duckburg.

Before long, the space city came into view. Duckburg was massive, certainly one of the largest cities out there. The ship was nearly the size of a smaller planet, though it was made entirely out of metal. Seeing it didn’t phase Webby in the slightest, she’d spent nearly her whole life living there, it wasn’t anything compared to the actual planets she’d visited. In her mind, one of the most impressive things about the city was the massive warp gate orbiting around it. Even from this distance she could see ships entering and leaving warp through it, visiting various other systems with warp gates of their own.

Webby flew the starship closer to the city and a large landing bay came into view. She quickly located an empty spot and lined the ship up for landing. Lena helped her locate the landing gear, and the ship touched down without issue.

She unstrapped herself from the pilot’s seat and turned to Lena. “We almost  _ died _ !” She exclaimed.

“We _almost_ died,” Lena corrected her, “The ‘almost’ is a very important distinction.”

Webby couldn’t help but smile at that, life-threatening adventure or not she certainly had an amazing adventure on her first solo warp. And even more importantly, she’d made a new friend in the process.

“So, You wanna catch a movie this weekend Pink?” Lena asked, reaching into her pocket.

“Yes!” Webby immediately replied, surely granny wouldn’t stop her from hanging out with a new friend, regardless of how angry she got about this whole incident.

“Cool, I’ll give you my contact.”

* * *

Lena waved once to Webby from her ship, Webby was practically jumping to wave back with both hands. The door to her starship closed and she was left alone again, the silence was uncharacteristically deafening.

She rolled up her sleeve, taking a closer look at the injury she received during the scuffle. Thankfully the damage was mostly superficial, it didn’t look like anything below the outer layer was damaged. She moved her fingers over the singe mark, feeling the warm metal below. She’d still have to go back ‘home’ to get this fixed, she couldn’t risk anyone else finding out.

“I’m coming back for minor repairs,” she said in the otherwise empty starship, “Mission accomplished.”

The quiet hum of metal in the back of her mind was all the acknowledgement she needed, and she begun preparing for warp. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so it begins~  
> I'm going to try to mix in a good amount of fluff between these more intense plot-driven segments, so the next chapter should be a little less intense.
> 
> As a side note, I already have the major plot points and character abilities/explanations planned out, as well as which characters are making an appearance. I won't spoil too much, but I won't be able to fit every Ducktales character in a super significant role. Special appearances will happen, but this is a Webby / Lena fanfic at it's core.
> 
> Huge thanks to Eden for beta reading and editing again! They really made some of the scenes I wrote flow so much better here (Mentioning the planet Ithaquack was a fantastic touch).


	4. Introductions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena meets Webby's family, things are calm (for a moment)

Webby followed Lena out of the large movie theatre, passing by the large illuminated screens advertising new films. An image of the film they had just seen cycled on one of the screens-  _ ‘Moon Mites’ _ . 

“I can’t believe that the gold-eating mites were sent to the past in order to save the world from gold-fever!” Webby recounted, practically jumping up and down with excitement. “I was  _ not _ expecting time travel, not like that!”

Lena nodded, “I’m impressed at your taste, a bit non-traditional for a first date though”

Webby nearly tripped, “Wh- date? But- I- I mean this-”

“Loosen up Pink, I’m just messin with ya.” Lena interrupted. She crossed her arms as they walked, “Honestly, I’m surprised you were even allowed  _ out _ after last week.”

Webby let out a nervous chuckle, “Haha, well... I may have stretched the truth  _ just _ a bit. It’s alright though! I told them all about how you swooped in to save the day after the Beagle Boys ambushed me, and how we managed to lose them at the last second!” Granny and Scrooge had both been more concerned for her own safety, and it wasn’t  _ technically  _ her fault for losing her ship in the end.

“Huh, didn’t think you had it in you.” Lena gave her a quick thumbs up, “Good work though, the movie was fun.” She paused to think for a moment before continuing, “You mind if I swing by your place? I don’t really have much to do today.” 

“Oh, yes! Absolutely!” Webby exclaimed. She was planning on inviting Lena over sometime anyway, she’d promised to introduce her to Granny at some point. She skipped ahead a few steps, spinning around to face Lena, “Oooh! We could even have a sleepover!”

Lena stopped walking and raised an eyebrow at her, “A... sleepover?”

Webby grimaced, perhaps she was moving things along too quickly. Sure, they’d been talking quite a bit over the past few days, and Webby really didn’t want to stop hanging out with her cool new friend. But, she wasn’t even sure if sleepovers were a thing friends really did at their age. She’d had a few sleepovers with her brothers, but they all lived in the mansion together anyway so that  _ probably _ didn’t count.

Lena broke Webby’s train of thought, “Sounds fun, hope you don’t mind if I just bring me.” She pointed towards herself, “Don’t really have much else to bring.”

A huge smile spread across Webby’s face as she jumped up into the air. “Yes! Oh, this is going to be so much fun! We can stay up late swapping cool space adventure stories, eating snacks, talking about our favorite types of rocks.. I’ll let Granny know we’re on our way!” Webby quickly pulled out her phone and typed up a message, a few seconds passing before a small ping indicated a response. She pumped her fist into the air triumphantly, “Success!”

With confirmation from her granny, she led Lena towards McDuck Manor. It was a lengthier walk through the city, but eventually they reached the metal gates that restricted access to the massive mansion. Webby entered a code into one of the metal boxes just outside the gate and with a click the gates slowly opened. The two of them walked up the path and Lena looked around curiously at the various plants and trees decorating the yard. It certainly was a sight to behold for a first time guest.

Eventually, they reached the manor itself. It was an impressive size, it’s beautiful white walls and stained glass windows made it stand out from the rest of the more metal-based buildings in the city. Webby led Lena past the large water fountain decorated to look like it was overflowing with gold, and up to the front door. She unlocked it, revealing the inside of the manor. The lobby was well decorated, various portraits of Scrooge were hung up on the walls. Many doors on the first floor were open to other parts of the mansion, while a large central staircase split to lead to the second floor. Mrs. Beakley was standing in the center of the lobby, watching the two with a piercing gaze.

“Ah, you must be Webby’s new friend I’ve heard so much about.” She took a few steps forward and looked Lena over, Lena crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow in response. “It’s a pleasure to meet the one who saved my granddaughter after such an  _ unfortunate  _ crash.” She held out a hand towards Lena.

“Sure thing, Tea Time.” Lena replied. She shifted her weight to her other foot, making it a point to ignore the outstretched hand.

“Mrs. Beakley,” Beakley corrected, “I see your manners have been greatly over exaggerated.” Beakley shot Webby a look, who just smiled awkwardly in response. Dropping her extended hand, she continued, “I approved you spending time here today, however, you _will_ follow the house rules. If you can’t do at least that much, I’m afraid you won’t find yourself in this manor again any time soon.”

“Alright Granny, sounds good! We’ll make sure to follow all the rules, c’mon, Lena, let’s go!” Webby interjected, grabbing onto Lena’s hand and pulling her away.

Beakley’s gaze followed the two of them as they made their way through the room, and she let out a deep sigh when they disappeared into one of the doorways.

The two of them made their way down the hallways, passing by various artifacts and bookshelves filled with various books and other items. 

“... Quickly taking first place with the setback from earlier. The undefeated champion is back in the lead! He seems set on claiming another victory as the last lap approaches!” 

“Oh! This is perfect, I’ll introduce you to my brothers!” Webby turned down another hallway, walking up to one of the open doors. Lights flashed from the room as they entered, a large display covered nearly the entire wall. Some sort of race was being broadcast, ships of various colors and shapes speeding through an asteroid belt. Louie was slouched on the couch sipping on a can of Pep, wearing his usual green hoodie. Next to him, Huey sat at the edge of the couch, wearing a matching red cap and shirt, his eyes glued to the screen. 

“And the racers enter into the final lap! First place seems secured at this point, but there are no absolutes in these races!” The announcer called out. The view switched to the starship in first place, a silver and blue decaled ship with the characters “D-2500” painted onto the side. It expertly maneuvered around the various asteroids making up the course. After a little while the camera switched the view to a large crowd holding various signs and posters in the air, screaming wildly about the racers.

“This is Huey, and that’s Dewey.” Webby explains, pointing to each of her brothers respectively.

Huey turned his head to look back at Webby, holding his hand up in a half-wave “Hey Webby, who are-” He pauses mid-sentence when he sees Lena. “Oh! Lena, right? From the Beagle Boys incident?”

Lena raises an eyebrow, but nods. “I guess that’s a pretty famous story ‘round these parts now, huh?”

Webby let out a nervous laugh, “Well, word does travel fast in the McDuck Manor..” 

“Quiet down, I’m trying to enjoy the race.” Louie interrupted, waving his hand dismissively in the air, eliciting an elbow jab from Huey. “Ow! Hey!”

“Don’t be rude,” Huey scolded him, which just got a sigh from Louie.

“Sup, I’m Louie, you may have heard about me from my  _ many _ successful expeditions. Autographs are expensive so I hope you brought enough to cover that.” Huey shot him another glare, but didn’t say anything.

“And the D-2500 completes the final lap, the champion remains undefeated!” Flashing lights and loud cheers can be heard from the race in the background.

“Ugh, great. I missed the end.” Louie complains, turning back around to face the screen.

The camera switches to a view of the starship making it’s landing. The hatch opens to reveal another duck wearing an unzipped dark blue jacket over a light blue shirt. He winks to the camera before holding his hand up, waving to the crowds of people in the stands around him. “Once again, Dewey Duck takes first place in the Morkshire Belt Series! Undefeated for another season!” The announcer finished as various reporters began swarming him with questions about the race.

“And that’s Dewey,” Webby explains, “It’s a shame you two couldn’t meet, I think you’d really get along!”

“Based on what?” Lena asked, shooting Webby a quizzical look.

“She called it the ‘coolness factor’, or something.” Louie answered, “Something about both of you being  _ super cool _ and bonding over spaceship talk.”

Webby’s face turned a bright shade of pink and Louie got another jab in the side by Huey, “Ow! What was that for?”

“Webby confided in us, you can’t just go blabbing about other people’s business like that! Show some respect in front of her new friend.” Huey crossed his arms, glaring at Louie.

“Oh, you mean like how you’ve been sneaking out and taking Uncle’s stealth fighter out for test flights?” Louie shot back, taking another sip of his Pep.

“What do you- I- What do I have to do with this? If it wasn’t for those-”

Webby pulled Lena back towards the hallway as the two brothers began bickering. Closing the door behind them, the muffled voices could barely be heard anymore.

“Do they always fight like that?” Lena asked as she looked back at the door.

Webby rubbed the back of her head, “They’re generally fine when all three of them are around. They kinda… Balance eachother out I guess?” She realized that this wasn't exactly a compelling showcase of how great her family was, “Oh! But, they’re super fun to hang out with! We all go on fun adventures together, and we’ve always got each other’s back. They’re super great brothers, I’m real lucky to have them.”

Lena scoffed, “Yeah, family sure is something.”

Well that didn’t work. “Okay, uh. C’mon! We can head up to my room.” Webby quickly changed the subject. She turned to continue down the hall, until they reached another stairway. Up the stairs and down another few hallways, they finally reach their destination. The door in front of them is just as plain as the other doors, the only difference is a small sign that reads ‘Knock before entering’.

Webby turned the doorknob, swinging the door inwards as she stepped in. The room they entered was something she was quite proud of, various artifacts and star charts lined the walls, large bookshelves were absolutely crammed with ancient looking tomes, and directly in the center was a large metal table with a soft blue light illuminating the surface. The room in its entirety felt more like a museum, or some sort of research lab, not something she assumed most people would think of someone her age having. This was the real test, if Lena didn’t think any of this stuff was weird or unfitting of her this whole friendship thing might actually work out.

Lena took a good long look around the room, silently eyeing all the various things scattered about. “Huh, pretty cool.”

“Really? You really think so?” Webby let out a sigh of relief, “I thought you’d think I was weird for holding onto all this stuff..”

Lena walked over to the bookshelf, running her fingers across some of the books. “Nah, you’ve got a cool treasure hunter vibe going on here for sure. Why would you think that?” She pulled out a random volume, it was an old book on theoretical time travel, and began flipping through the pages.

“You’re like the coolest person I’ve ever met! Other than Uncle Scrooge of course, no offense.”

“None taken”

Webby continued, “I just don’t know if people actually like this stuff, no one else I’ve talked too outside of the family didn’t seem all that interested.”

“Well they’re missing out,” Lena replied, closing the book and placing it back on the shelf. “And don’t sell yourself short, Pink.” She walked over to a misshapen metallic hand sitting up on a shelf, eyeing it over.

“Oh!” Webby practically jumped up, and ran over to the hand, “That’s the Hand of Dremnar, said to be a legendary pirate that stole half of the galaxy’s wealth when he traveled the stars!”

Lena glanced over to webby, “And how’d you come across something like that?”

“Oooooh! I’m so glad you asked!” Webby exclaimed, a massive smile on her face, “So we were out on a typical expedition to...”

* * *

Lena was lying on Webby’s bed, one hand holding her head up while she listened to the girl recount another one of her adventures. It seemed that once she got going it was difficult to stop her, not that she minded anyway. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d spent actual hours lying in a comfortable bed, all the ones back ‘home’ were about as utilitarian as they get. 

Webby finished her story and looked over to Lena to see if she had any questions, but instead of continuing things further Lena just shook her head. “It’s a shame you didn’t make it back with all that treasure, though. Sounds like you would’ve been well off on your own with all that.”

Webby shrugged, plopping down on the bed next to Lena, “Eh, I’m not really in it for the riches like Uncle Scrooge. So long as I can travel the galaxy and see everything there is to see, I’m more than happy.”

The way her eyes glistened when she talked about her adventures was mesmerising, almost enough to make her forget why she was really here in the first place. A sharp headache suddenly overcame her and she winced in pain. Almost, but not quite enough to forget. “Hey, uh, Pink. Where’s the bathroom?”

“Take a right down the hall, and it’ll be the first door on the left after the bend. Do you want me to show you?” Webby asked.

“Nah, I’m good. I’ll just be a minute.”

“Okay!” Webby replied, jumping back up to her feet, “I’ll get the spare bed ready while I wait!”

Lena nodded and pulled herself up as well, the headache worsened and she stumbled forward, catching herself on the doorframe. Webby shot her a concerned look but Lena just gave her a quick thumbs up and left the room.

The bathroom was, of course, bigger than it had any right to be. She locked the door on her way in and stumbled over to the sink. She turned the cold water on and splashed her face a few times before looking up at her reflection in the mirror. Standing behind her was a looming figure, the form had no detail but she recognized it all the same.

The metallic hum echoed in her mind as the figure spoke to her, “What are you  _ doing _ wasting all this time with that brat? You should know better than to go against me like this, you  _ know _ what you’re here for!” It was a shrill voice Lena didn’t care much for, and it somehow got worse the farther away from the source she was.

“Ugh, give me a break, she got me into the house okay? I can’t just ditch her, that would be way too suspicious.” Lena shot back, turning around to face the projected form in front of her. It was still disorienting to look at the figure with it being something only projected in her own mind.

“Well, worry less about being suspicious and more about getting that dime!”

“I don’t even know where the damned thing is, anyway.” Lena leaned against the wall, pressing a hand to her head. The headache had gotten much, much worse, but there was little she could do. “Look is that all? I need to go back before she comes to check up on me and finds me rambling to myself.”

The figure crossed its arms, “Watch how you speak to me, lest you forget who you  _ belong _ to. Get it to me soon or you’ll never get that  _ precious _ wish of yours granted.”

Lena rolled her eyes, “Yeah yeah, I’ll get your stupid dime, don’t worry.”

With that, the figure dissipated, and Lena’s intense headache slowly subsided. She really hated putting up with her, but she wouldn’t have to much longer. She’d get that dime, and finally be free from all of this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay on this chapter! A bunch of stuff all came up at once, but I should be back on track now.
> 
> Okay so, 'less intense' counts for most of this chapter at least, though I'm finally introducing some of the other characters!  
> I'm excited to get the main plot moving~
> 
> Beta reading/edits by Eden, thanks again so much!!


End file.
